Uinta Brewing's New Line of Beers

If you've been paying attention to Utah's craft beer scene over the last 12 months you've noticed that there's been huge momentum from breweries and brewpubs to move beyond Utah's famed low alcohol beers.

Now we all know that Utah brewers have been brewing higher ABV beers for years, but the recent explosion in the desire to produce big beers is only being fueled by the publics craving for them.

The Utah Brewers Coop is seeing record sales with it's Hop Rising 2IPA and people in and out of the beer industry are taking notice. The game has changed and everyone is getting involved. The Utah Brewers Coop has clearly been leading the way with nearly a dozen high ABV labels to their credit. Squatters Brewpub has done some as well, along with RedRock, Wasatch Brewpub - Even Hoppers will have some high Abv Labels out soon.

Uinta Brewing company has been in the "big beer" game for a while. Their Barleywine is still Utah's biggest beer to date, annually coming in at around 10-11%. As well as their Anglers pale ale and Monkshine Belgian style Pale.

Uinta has been curiously absent from our local "beer renaissance" but no longer. Now comes word that Uinta will finally be amping-up it's game and will begin to commit to a line of big - bottle conditioned beers.

Starting early 2010 Uinta will begin production on a line of premium beers unlike anything seen in Utah. The "super premium beers" will be small batched - high alcohol beers in the 12-15% ABV range - Aged in oak barrels and cork finished.

The debut line-up is rumored to consist of an Imperial Stout(Utah's first), an Imperial IPA and a regular release of Uinta's Bourbon Barrel Barleywine; which was a bit of a phenomenon in the local beer scene.

I just hope that that 12%-15% is an exaggeration. In my opinion when beers get that boozy they start to become more of a novelty and less of a premium. I guess we'll wait and see. What are your thoughts?

These new additions, along with all the other fine brews that they do, will help to eliminate the popular and misinformed bias that Utah just can't do beer well.

Cheers!

Photo Courtesy: Aubry Sun

Hops and Hoppers

A lot of you were able to purchase hops from High Desert Hop Farms last week, but didn't know the specific Alpha Acid content of the hops that you bought. Well the alpha report on those hops is in from Univ. Oregon in Corvallis. Here you go.

Cascade 5.37
Columbus 12.12
Galena 8.19

The Alphas are slightly below average so adjust your recipes accordingly.

Also Donovan Steele, Secret Agent and Brewmaster at Hoppers has decided that his debut bottled beers are looking to be a Pils around 5.2% abv and a Black Lager at or a round 6% abv. Dono seens to be really geeked about the Black Lager at near bock strength... perhaps a Schwarzbock? Okay... now you've got my attention!

Posts will be sporadic for the rest of the week, I'm headed for Denver to attend The Great American Beer Festival for "research" purposes.... yeah, I almost chuckled myself. Anyone else going? I'd love to hook up.

Prost!

Hoppers is out of Midvale

Not too long ago if you wanted a craft beer from a specific brewpub you could only get it from that brewpub. Oh how the time they is a chang'n. RedRock & Bohemian are building/built new breweries, Roosters and Squatters have multiple locations, Epic Brewing is on deck and the list goes on.

Now entering the off premises beer market comes Hoppers. Last week for the first time since opening their doors, the Midvale brewpub has it's beer in an outside establishment.

The Beerhive is Debuting Hoppers "This is the Pilsener". It's made with all German grains, hops, and and a Kloster yeast strain. This is a great German style Pils. It won it's third gold medal in a row last June at NABA in Idaho Falls.

Brewmaster Donovan Steele will be rotating his seasonals on this tap at the Beerhive. Once the Pils is gone the Double Black Lager will slide in followed by Hoppers Oktoberfest and McGee's Red Ale. Donovan said "I'm only going to put on tap the best beers I have to offer. Because Hoppers doesn't have a bulk base grain silo, all of our grain comes in bags, allowing me to bring in only premium malts for 100% of the grains used in every batch; more work for me but a great excuse to use only the best. This lack of convenience has become a blessing".

Besides getting his beer out of the brewpub Donovan got some other good news. Hoppers just purchased a brand new bottling and filler cap system. This means Dono will now have the ability to get Hoppers into the high gravity beer game.

Donovan is still undecided what his first bottle conditioned beer will be, but should have it figured out by next week. And if all goes well he'll likely be
bottling in a little over a month, maybe two. I know a lot of people will be looking forward to these beers.

Damn, this is turning out to be one helluva year for beer in Utah. Prost!

Give in to the Dark Side

If your a fan of Black Lagers the next couple of weeks will give you a chance to indulge your dark side.

Our first black bier comes to us courtesy of Hoppers and Brewmaster Donovan Steele. Dono's "Double Black Lager" went on tap yesterday. It pours a dark brown with garnet highlights just a hint of cocoa powder or dark chocolate in the finish, yet creamy smooth and dangerously easy to drink. All German except for the water and the brewer. It's tastes even better on Tuesdays, thanks to "$2.50 Tuesdays". Go figure.

Next is Mike's Pro/Am Black Lager from RedRock. The name says it all. Home Brewer extraordinaire Mike Johnson has teamed up with RedRock's Brewmaster Kevin Templin for this American Take on the style. I believe this beer will be entered in the Pro/Am competition at the Great American Beer Festival next month. I've tried Mike's Beer. They're chances a very good.

Finally there is Full Sail Brewing's Sessions Black Lager. An appealing medium bodied black beer with a nice amber malt base, light roastiness amid the caramel toast. An excellent example an American Dark Lager style, a cousin to the German Schwarz.

These are all available right now. The Session black lager is at state liquor stores.
Prost!

The HB51 Beers Debut Today

One of the great things about living in this area is the great sense of community. There are very few places around the world where competitors actually enjoy collaborating with each other on their crafts.

All of the brewpubs that participated in the brewing of the HB51 beer have kegged their individual interpretation on the collaboration amber ale. And as promised they are all very different.

Wednesday evening the participating brewers gathered together at the Desert Edge brewpub to show off their brews. Desert Edge offered it's unfiltered version - Hoppers aged it with oak - RedRock had it's filtered version - Squatters added Amarillo hops via a hopback and Wasatch dry-hopped with nine pounds of Amarillo.

As promised they were all very different and unique. A perfect example of how an individuals personal touches can make a common beer somewhat special.

The HB51 beers are available starting today at the brewpubs listed above. The Utah Brewers Coop will also have the Wasatch version available. All brewers encourage patrons to try every version.

Note: The Bohemian Brewery was slated to participate but for some reason had to opt-out.

And speaking of Bohemian, some sad news. Owner/Brewermaster Joe Petras collapsed earlier this week and is said to be in serious condition at an area hospital. No specifics available right now.

Let’s all send our best wishes and prayers for Joe's recovery.

The HB51 Beer

To help celebrate the signing of HB51, local brewpubs in Salt Lake City and its surrounding areas have decided to create a special beer to commemorate the legalization of home brewing in Utah. As well as to salute our local home brewers, all the while having a little fun in the process.

Desert Edge, Hoppers, Red Rock, Wasatch, Bohemian and Squatters brew pubs will be brewing the same beer but with one very specific variable either altered or added. All malt, hops, water, and timing will be identical, but each brewery will integrate one different variable to show their customers, especially the local home brewers, what changing one important factor can do for a beer.

The brew is a session amber ale and will be on tap at all 6 brew pubs. The Desert Edge version will be unfiltered, Hoppers will be aging with oak, Red Rock will offer it filtered, Wasatch will dryhop, Bohemian is going to ferment it with lager yeast and Squatters is making it
with whole Amarillo hop flowers added via hopback.

The release date of the HB51 beer is May 1st. it coincides with the Big Brew National Homebrew Day, May 2nd. Those interested can pick up a recipe sheet at each of the 6 brew pub locations.

I'm not sure if the official name of the beer is HB51. I'm sure all appropriate suggestions will be considered. But one thing is certain this will be a great thing for Utah's growing beer culture. Cheers!

Photo Courtesy: Chris Detrick/The Salt Lake Tribune

St. Patrick's Day Micro's

Looking for some good seasonal to drink on St. Patrick's Day that aren't green? Well here ya go.

Hibernian

A very malty, Irish style ale. Clean filtered and reddish brown in color. Low in
bitterness, however, has a slight hop finish to it. Up front character is caramel malt tones. The Hibernian Society is an international organization of Irish culture.

Oatmeal Stout

Our heaviest ale, medium bitterness, made with 8 different types of malt, very dark, served using a nitrogen push. This rich, full bodied brew will dazzle your tongue with many different malts, a hint of chocolate and a suggestion of coffee.

Squatters brings back Hop Rising. Now made with whole Amarillo flower instead of pellets. And special for St. Patty's Day they have McGrueh's Dry Irish Stout on nitro.

Hoppers has Bruce's 80 Scottish ale. It's an amber hued ale that's very rich, toasty, roasty, smoky and malty with hints of fig and Bourbon. East Kent hops were used and add a very slight, crisp 'n clean bitterness.

If you have an absolut hard-on for green beer there is an option at The Utah Brwewers Coop. They have a green infused Provo girl Pils called Green Girl. Slainte!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Bruce's 80 Scottish Ale

Donovan Steele, Secret Agent and Brewmaster at Hoppers in Midvale has a new seasonal ale available this Friday the 13th. Bruce's 80 is a Scottish ale that's been aging in the tank for several weeks.

Dono descibes this first time offering as an amber hued ale that's very rich, toasty, roasty, smoky and malty with hints of fig and Bourbon. East Kent hops were used and add a very slight, crisp 'n clean bitterness.

Dono says, he really likes working on the seasonals. "It gives me the time and freedom to do research and formulate a new batch...at the end of the day I feel a little better about my student loans".

Sounds like money well spent! Available only at Hoppers. Cheers!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Face Plant at Hoppers

Hoppers has a great "post canyon" refresher to help reacclimate yourself to normalcy after a full day of Utah's greatest snow on earth. Brewmaster Donovan Steele has put on tap a tasty Hefeweizen called Face Plant Wheat. Face Plant uses a German Kloster yeast, which provides a nice nose of banana, pear and vanilla. A very assertive fruitiness is present though this light bodied brew. Not much clove but the banana is in full force. Available only on-tap at Hoppers. Cheers!

The Fifth Season

One thing that separates Utah from the rest of the world is our lack of seasons. The rest of the world gets the standard four, you know spring, summer etc. But here in the intermountain west, we get seven months of winter, four months of summer and two weeks each for spring and fall.

To help break up the months in between extremes I propose we create a new fifth season. Leann (lionn) would begin right about now, dedicated to the best time of the year for beer. So, now that we've got that bullshit out of the way. I'd like to throw some good seasonal options out there to help celebrate our new season.

Squatters has quite a few on tap now.
Alt and In the Way: a German style Altbier Copper-colored and aged 35 days. Won a gold in the 2008 World Beer Cup competition.

BlackForest Schwarzbier: Dark and not too heavy with a good amount of hops. Another medal winner.

Cheshire Cream Ale: Pale straw color. Low hop bittering and some hop aroma.

Hop Rising: A well-hopped, classic American pale ale.

Wasatch BrewPub is offering,
Hopalicious Pale Ale: A Pale Ale on cask made from wild Utah hops. Limited supply. Only at the Wasatch Brew Pub.

Pumpkin Ale: An unfiltered fall brew, made with real pumpkin and pie spices. This is one of the better Pumpkin beers available in the country.

RedRock has,
Bamberg Rauchbier: An amber-colored smoke ale with a mild beech wood-esque smokiness.

Harvest Ale: An unfiltered hop monster with a great citrus nose and taste.

Desert Edge.
Desert Hell: A Bavarian Helles Bier. A light and slightly malty German lager with spicy hop character, but a bit more subdued and balanced than regular Czech lagers.

Radius: Is a white, golden ale made with ingredients grown within 150 miles (give or take) from Salt Lake City. Available in mid-October.

Hoppers is offering their take on the Altbier. Out of Bounds Alt: Extended conditioning mellows out the ale's fruitiness and produces an exceptionally smooth and delicate brew. A great balance of malt and hops.

Four+(Uinta). Punk'n: spicier and dryer than Wasatch's with cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and allspice.

Roosters. Oktoberfest: Dark copper in color, full-bodied, rich and toasty.

So get your slacker-asses out there and drink-up these seasonals before they're gone. Or you'll be sad lil' beer geeks. Cheers!

Brew-tah

19 Medals! That's what Utah's suds-meisters managed to compile at this years Mountain Brewers Festival in Idaho Falls, Idaho. From Smoke to Root Beer, our brewers dun-did-us-prowd! Here's a list of the local winners and a link to all medalist. Congrats to all!

Bronze: Bohemian Brewery - Czech Helles.

Gold: Desert Edge Brewery - Anniversary Amber.

Gold: Hoppers Grill & Brewing Company - This is the Pilsner.

Silver: Moab Brewery - Scopian Pale Ale.

Bronze: Moab Brewery - Merrimack.

Gold: RedRock Brewing Co. - Bamberg Rauch Bier.

Silver: Red Rock Brewing Co. - German Pilsner.

Bronze: Red Rock Brewing Co. - Bohemian Pilsner.

Bronze: Ruby River Steakhouse and Brewery - Ruby's Root Beer.

Bronze: Four Plus Brewing Co - Monkshine.

Gold: Uinta Brewing Company- Kings Peak.

Gold: Uinta Brewing Company- Blue Sky Pilsener.

Bronze: Uinta Brewing Company - Solstice Kolsch.

Bronze: Uinta Brewing Company - Bristlecone Brown Ale.

Gold: Wasatch (Utah Brewers Cooperative) - Squatter's Hefeweizen.

Silver: Wasatch (Utah Brewers Cooperative) - Wasatch Evolution Amber Ale (Irish Red).

Silver: Wasatch (Utah Brewers Cooperative) - Wasatch Polygamy Porter.

Bronze: Wasatch (Utah Brewers Cooperative) - Squatter's Organic Amber Ale.

Bronze: Wasatch Brew Pub - Polygamy Porter.

Rodney Scores a bottle of Grand Tetons' Double Wheat Utahns represented a good portion of the crowd